Here's Why Ellen DeGeneres Is The Queen Of Celebrity Homeowners

Like a lot of celebrities, Ellen is a pro at buying the best homes, decorating them to perfection, and selling them for a lucrative profit, but her love of real estate and interior design runs much, much deeper than most.

Hollywood is a place apart when it comes to home ownership, what with its stunning mansions and abundance of celebrity-studded neighborhoods. But when it comes to famous home owners, one woman truly stands out.

Essentially, Ellen DeGeneres is the Real Estate Queen of Hollywood — and the following 10 quotes perfectly sum up her qualifications.

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Joanna DeGeneres

Ellen's love affair with design started very early, before most other people ever gave interiors a second thought. "I think I wanted to be an interior designer when I was 13. I remember one specific moment in this one house. Setting up my bedroom, wanting to do it in a certain way," she explained to The New York Times.

Above: The dining room in Ellen's former home in Trousdale Estates. The dining table in reclaimed wood was custom made by Lucca Antiques.

Katja Cho

When she was ready to move beyond redecorating her childhood bedroom, and get started designing entire homes of her own, she was instantly hooked. "I learned that furniture is art; that if you spend money on a couch, it can look pretty, but it can also be made by an important designer. I started shopping in a different way, and redoing homes and recognizing what a great home was," she told The New York Times.

Tim Street Porter

Ellen has become so enthralled by the entire process of renovating and reselling homes, when Matt Lauer asked her on Today if she would consider doing it for a living, her answer was decidedly affirmative. "I would buy houses — I don't like building, I don't like construction — but I love redoing a house, and furnishing a house, and shopping. And I like the whole design part of it. And then I would sell it. That's what I would do. I would do that all day long."

Above: The kitchen in Ellen's former Holmby Hills home, The Brody House. The kitchen is comprised of marble and stainless-steel surfaces and stained walnut cabinetry.

Katja Cho

When speaking with People about her new book, Ellen explained that even though she had apprehensions when she first started making real estate transactions, she knew it was something that would fulfill her. "I had taste before money. But I just knew I had to get in the market," she said. "It's like jumping into a moving jump rope. You're kind of scared to death to do it but you have to get in there."

William Abranowicz

After years of purchasing, selling, and sometimes even repurchasing homes in Southern California, Ellen has become such an elite home buyer that she's often the first to know when desirable properties hit the market. "I somehow manage to find out what's on the market everywhere. People come to me," she told The New York Times. "I like looking whether I'm buying or not. I love real estate."

Above: A bedroom in Ellen's former home in the Hollywood Hills, called the Birdhouse. The bed is draped in vintage linen bedding by Simeona Leona and a bedspread by Hollywood at Home.

Katja Cho

But if she does want to buy a house and it isn't on the market, Ellen will surely find a way. She explained on Today that if she's interested in someone's home after visiting for a dinner or a party, she will make an offer. "I would buy your house. Everything is for sale. Everything has a price. And if I liked your house I [would buy it]."

William Abranowicz

While most people would scoff at the thought of moving multiple times in one year, Ellen sees each new house as a new opportunity to get the most out of her life. "As corny as it sounds, to me, home is where the heart is," she writes in HOME. "So moving houses is just another way in which I get to experience life."

And although she readily admitted to the LA Times that her penchant for beautiful interiors goes beyond most other people's, she still doesn't take herself, or her homes, too seriously. "I like beautiful things, maybe more than most people," she said. "But I don't want to live somewhere so precious that you can't let your dog or cat on the sofa, or put your feet up."

William Abranowicz

Despite her lack of formal training, Ellen assured People magazine that she's put in plenty of hours of work in polishing her design chops. But no matter how successful she gets, her main goal in each home is still her own happiness. "When I'm in a room, I want everything I'm looking at to make me happy. I've gotten better over the years. This didn't happen to me right away. I shop a lot and I study a lot and I look at a lot of books and magazines. I just learned what I like."

Above: A seating area in one of the barns on Ellen's former horse ranch just outside of Los Angeles. On the wall hangs an 18-century Spanish wood ring.

Katja Cho

Most importantly though, Ellen's domination of the real estate and interior design game comes down to one simple thing: Her undying love of design and passion for homes. As she explained to USA Today: "Design is really my true love. I loved it before I started doing stand-up. I loved it before anything."

Photos excerpted from the book HOME by Ellen DeGeneres. Copyright (c) 2015 by Crazy Monkey, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing.

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